UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE EDUCACIÓN ENRIQUE GUZMÁN Y VALLE
“Alma Máter del Magisterio Nacional” ESCUELA DE POSGRADO
Thesis
Background knowledge and reading comprehension in first grade students
at Andrés Avelino Caceres High School, Collique, Comas, 2013.
Submitted by
Rosaura CAMONES ESTELA
Adviser:
Dr. Rogil SANCHEZ QUINTANA
In fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Educational Sciences degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language
Declaration of Academic Ethics
I hereby declare that the thesis I am submitting for assessment is my own and does not contain any unacknowledged work from any other sources. Were any of its contents proved the result of cheating or plagiarism on my part, I assume the corresponding penalties established by the postgraduate school.
Lima, December 2013
Dedication
To my parents and professors who encouraged
me the last two years of studies, especially
INDEX
Index iv Abstract viii
List of acronyms ix List of tables x List of figures xi Introduction xii
FIRST PART: THEORETICAL ASPECTS CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
1. Background of the research 3 1.1. International background 3 1.2. National background 6 2. Theoretical bases 7
Subchapter I: Background Knowledge 7
1.1. Conceptualization and definitions of Background Knowledge 7 1.2. Kinds of Background Knowledge 11
1.2.1. World and Conceptual Background Knowledge 12 1.2.1.1. World knowledge (Acquired) 13
1.2.1.2. Conceptual knowledge 15 1.2.2. Linguistic knowledge 17
a. Cognitive conception 18 b. Linguistic conception 18 c. Social conception 18
1.2.3. Knowledge of mother tongue 20
1.2.3.1. Knowledge of the word structure (meaning and vocabulary) 20
1.2.3.2. Knowledge of the sentence structure 22 1.2.3.3. Language function 24
1.2.3.4. Sociolinguistic interaction 28 1.2.4. Knowledge of Foreign Language 32
1.2.4.1. Knowledge of foreign language rules 32
1.2.5. Meta-cognitive knowledge 40
1.2.5.1. Use strategies of self – learning 43 1.2.5.2. Use of ICT 44
1.2.5.3. Use of strategies of reading 47
1.2.5.4. Make self-evaluation about learning 50 1.3. How we acquire Background Knowledge 52
1.4. How we activate Background Knowledge 54
1.4.1. Different types of activating Background Knowledge 56
1.4.1.1. Background Knowledge activating through reflection and recording 56
1.4.1.2. Background knowledge activating through interactive discussion 58
1.4.1.3. Background knowledge activating through answering questions 59
1.4.1.4. The K-W-L strategy for activating Background Knowledge 59 1.4.1.5. CONTACT-2, computer-assisted activation of Background
knowledge 60
1.4.1.6. Background knowledge activation through interpretation of topic-related pictures 61
1.5. Background knowledge and schema Theory 61
Subchapter II: Reading comprehension 64
2.1. Conceptualization of reading comprehension 64 2.2. Levels of reading comprehension 65
2.2.1. Literal comprehension 66
A.Primary level comprehension 68 B.Depth literal comprehension 68 2.2.2. Inferential comprehension 69 2.2.3. Critical comprehension 72
A.Critical evaluative comprehension 74
B.Critical contents comprehension of the form 74 2.3. Theories of Reading Comprehension 75
2.3.3. The Meta-cognitive view 76
2.4. Theories of reading that support the relation between word reading and comprehension 77
2.4.1. LaBerge and Samuels’ theory of automaticity 77
2.4.2. Posner and Snyder’s two-process theory of contextual expectancy 78 2.4.3. Stanovich’s interactive-compensatory model 79
2.5. Five Domains of Reading Instruction: “The Big 5” 80 2.6. Role of the reading teacher 81
2.6.1. Stage of reading lesson 82 A.Pre reading stage 82 B.While reading stage 82 C.Post reading stage 83 2.6.2. Skimming and scanning 84 2.6.3. Graphic Organizer 85 3. Definition of key terms 85
CHAPTER II: RESEARCH PROBLEM 2.1. Determination of the problem 90 2.2. Formulation of the problem 92
2.2.1. General problem 92 2.2.2. Specific problems 92 2.3. Objectives 93
2.3.1. General Objective 93 2.3.2. Specific objectives 93
2.4. Relevance and scope of the research 93 2.4.1 Theoretical relevance 93
2.4.2 Practical relevance 94
2.4.3 Methodological relevance 94 2.5. Limitations of the research 94
2.5.1 Geographical limitations 94 2.5.2 Time limitations 94
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1. System of hypotheses and variables 95
3.1.1. Hypothesis 95
- General hypothesis 95
- Specific Hypotheses 95 3.1.2. Variable system 95
- Variable I: Background knowledge 95
- Variable II: Reading comprehension 96 3.1.3. Operationalization of variables 96
3.2. Type and research method 97 3.2.1. Type of research 97 3.2.2. Research method 98 3.3. Research design 98
3.4. Research instruments 98 3.5. Data collection techniques 99 3.6. Population and sample 99
SECOND PART: FIELD WORK
CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS AND RESULTS 4.1. Validation and reliability of instruments 102
4.1.1. Validation of instruments 102 4.1.2. Reliability of instruments 103
4.2. Statistical treatment and interpretation of data (tables &graphs) 105
Discussion of results 121 Conclusions 123
Recommendations124 References 125
Background knowledge and reading comprehension in first grade students at Andrés Avelino Caceres High School, Collique, Comas, 2013.
Rosaura Camones Estela
Abstract
This work, had as the main goal to establish a relationship between background knowledge and reading comprehension in first grade students at Andrés Avelino Caceres High School, in Collique, Comas, 2013.The general hypothesis proposed that background knowledge is significantly related to reading comprehension in first grade students at Andrés Avelino Caceres High School, Collique, Comas, 2013. It is a substantive research in its variety of descriptive research with a correlational design. Its population and sample was made up of 80 high school students at Andrés Avelino Caceres High School. The techniques used were the survey, documentary analysis, expert judgment, and application. Also we used as instruments a Likert scale questionnaire, score register of students’ grades, and the expert opinion tab among others. After the hypothesis testing, the alternative hypothesis was found to be true, confirming that background knowledge is significantly related to reading comprehension in students of the sample with a significance level of 0,05.
List of Acronyms
All acronyms are defined as they first appear in the text. The most common acronyms are listed below.
EFL English as a foreign language. ELT English Language Teaching.
OTP Orientation for the pedagogical work. MED Ministry of Education.
DCN National curricular Design. EBR Basic Regular Education. ESL English as a Second Language. PREP Pre reading Plan.
K-W-L Accessing What I know, determining what I Want to find out and recalling what I learned.
L1 First Language or Mother Tongue.
L2 Second Language.
CAI Computer-assisted instruction.
K-W-L charts What I “Know”/what I “Want” to know/what I’ve “Learned”. ELL English Language Learners.
MT Mother Tongue.
FL Foreign Language.
List of tables
Table 1 Approaches to help Students Build Background Knowledge 55 Table 2 Approaches for Activating Background Knowledge 56
Table 3 Reading strategies (Pre-reading stage) 82 Table 4 Reading strategies (While reading stage) 83 Table 5 Reading strategies (Post reading stage) 83 Table 6 Types of graphic organizers 85
Table 7 Operationalization of variables 96 Table 8 Experts’ opinions 102
Table 9 Validity criteria 102 Table 10 Reliability criteria 103
Table 11 Reliability Statistics of background knowledge and reading comprehension 103
Table 12 Dimension 1- Conceptual or world knowledge 104 Table 13 Dimension 2- Linguistic knowledge 105
Table 14 Dimension 3- Meta-cognitive Knowledge 106 Table 15 Background knowledge 107
Table 16 Reading Comprehension 108
Table 17 Descriptive analysis Background Knowledge 109 Table 18 Descriptive Analysis of Reading Comprehension 110 Table 19 Tests of Normality 112
Table 20 Correlations between V1 and V2 113
Table 21 Correlations between Reading Comprehension and Conceptual or world knowledge 115
Table 22 Correlations between Reading Comprehension and Linguistic knowledge 117
List of Figures
Figure 1 Functions of communication 26 Figure 2 Elements of communication 48 Figure 3 Background Knowledge 52
Figure 4 Importance to apply schema theory 63 Figure 5 Pyramid of reading comprehension 66 Figure 6 Skimming and scanning 84
Figure 7 Conceptual or world knowledge 104 Figure 8 Linguistic Knowledge 105
Figure 9 Meta-cognitive Knowledge 106
Figure 10 Variable I –Background knowledge 107 Figure 11 Variable II- Reading Comprehension 108
Figure 12 Quantitative Analysis of Variable I- Background knowledge 110 Figure 13 Reading comprehension of the students from the First Grade
Introduction
This research had as the main objective to establish the relationship between background knowledge and reading comprehension in first grade students at Andrés Avelino Caceres High School, Collique, Comas in the year 2013.
Background knowledge is important to be studied and considered due to the complexity of reading comprehension when students or reader interact as human being who analyze, imagine, critic, give opinions and point of view about different situations and levels of reading. In this direction, we analyzed the components of Background Knowledge in terms of conceptual, linguistic and meta-cognitive aspects.
As part of the methodology, this is a substantive research on the variety of descriptive and Correlational design. Its population was 80 students and the sample was 80 students that gave us the opportunity to apply a census. The techniques used were the survey, documentary analysis, expert judgment, and application. Also we used as instruments a Likert scale questionnaire, score register of students’ grades, and the expert opinion tab among others.
FIRST PART
Chapter I: Theoretical framework
"Readers understand what they read because they are able to take the stimulus beyond its graphic representation and assign it membership to an appropriate group of concepts already stored in their memories...”
Clarke & Silberstein
“The reader brings information, knowledge, emotion, experience and culture.” Anderson, Eskey & Grabe
1. Background to the research
Here are some studies taken from literature review that indicate the relationship between students’ background knowledge and reading comprehension.
1.1. International background
Fernandez (2005), has made a thesis entitled “Previous knowledge, schema of gender and Reading comprehension of English as Foreign language” where he investigated about the role that play some components of the previous knowledge (linguistic thematic, rhetoric and strategic) in the reading comprehension of English as a foreign Language. He concluded that the generic conventions of cultural nature come together to any kind of text for a full comprehension of these.
Carver (1992), in his research article entitled “Effect of Prediction Activities, Prior Knowledge, and Text Type upon Amount Comprehended: Using Rauding Theory to Critique Schema Theory Research” arrived at the following conclusions:
(a) Prediction activities did not facilitate comprehension,
(b) Prior knowledge had a relatively small unique effect upon the amount comprehended, and
(c) text type was not important. These negative results were explained using the framework of Rauding Theory. Most of the above notions associated with schema theory seem to be relevant to studying relatively hard material; these theoretical ideas were not developed to be relevant to the rauding process which is ordinarily used by elementary and secondary students. Students probably have to be forced to shift out of their normal reading process, called rauding, into untypical reading processes involving learning and memorizing before these variables that are important in schema theory become salient.
Ríos (2009), in his research work “Influences of a text’s academic level and the born place of a reader in reading comprehension related with messages of communication in health” from Pontifical University of Salamanca-Spain, arrived at the conclusion that it is seen like born place of a reader in an academic level of a text that can have a meaningful statistic influence in the reading comprehension messages of communication in health respect to the Puerto Rican and Dominican people participants in the investigation residents in San Juan, Puerto Rico. These results reinforce our proposal about the importance that this has for the specialists of the social communication the development of the investigation related to language analysis and the reading comprehension in the field of the health, since an intercultural perspective. (Own translation)
reading comprehension of the subjects with a higher reading competence (especially in reference to complementary information and number of deductions) and of the subjects with previous minor knowledge (above all in reference to the number of deductions). These results confirm in what it is substantial they obtained by previous investigation, but shadows them and set up new questions to investigate.
Magno (2007), in his thesis “The Schema Theory and Reading Process in adult students who have limit knowledge of the tongue”, arrived at the following conclusions:
1) Subjects who have previous knowledge about the content felt more secure for the reading which implies activation of previous knowledge over the contents generating schemes of meaningful information as a tool to reduce negative affections.
2) The result shows two sections: before reading and while reading had knowledge about the topic or reading liked to improve the global and detail comprehension. The absent of previous knowledge expressed by some participants gave as a result to establish general and necessary association to take up the reading proper of the activation of pre-mental model.
3) The little related with the topics are not an obstacle to understand the text. (Own translation)
1.2. National background
Delgado (2007), in his research work “Memory and reading comprehension in fourth grade students of primary level at Republica de Venezuela School, Callao, Lima”; concludes that memory does not have a statistical relationship with reading comprehension in primary students of fourth grade.
Flores (2008), in his research work, “Semantic process and Reading Comprehension in third grade students of primary level at Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes High School from Callao-Lima”, shows that 20 students of third grade with the technique of non-probabilistic intentional selection, concluding as a result that students have a low or deficient grade of Reading Comprehension.
Silva & Amache (2010), in their research work” Pedagogic alternative activities to improve the meta-comprehension strategies of written texts”. The results came to the conclusion that the application of pedagogic alternative activities have improved the strategies of meta-comprehension of written texts in sixth grade students of primary level at 50696 school ”Acpitan” from Ccoyllurqui Cotabamabas- Apurimac, after planning , designing and appliying programs to finally get a score of 15,28 for its goal.
Caycho (2011), in his research article entitled “Phonological awareness as a predictor of reading at the beginning of schooling in contexts of poverty”-Trujillo, arrived at the conclusion that the results indicate that syllabic segmentation, identification of heaps and the recognition of first phoneme of words predict significantly the performance of reading on having finished the first grade of primary level.
Segura, Girón & Rivera ( 2011) in their research work “The background knowledge and its relationship with reading comprehension in the Area of English in students of fourth grade at Heroes del Cenepa High School, San Juan de Lurigancho, Lima, 2011”, arrived at the following conclusions:
2. Target language knowledge is significantly related to reading comprehension in fourth grade students of the area of English at Heroes del Cenepa High School, San Juan de Lurigancho.
3. Thematic knowledge is significantly related to reading comprehension in fourth grade students of the area of English at Heroes del Cenepa High School, San Juan de Lurigancho.
4. Strategic knowledge is significantly related to reading comprehension in fourth grade students of the area of English at Heroes del Cenepa High School, San Juan de Lurigancho.
5. Prior knowledge of the mother tongue is significantly related to reading comprehension in fourth grade students of the area of English at Heroes del Cenepa High School, San Juan de Lurigancho.(Own translation).
2. Theoretical bases
This part of the thesis presents information concerning background knowledge and its relationship with different factors that have to do with reading comprehension.
Subchapter I: Background Knowledge
Learning a language is closely related to the background knowledge towards reading comprehension. Clarke & Silberstein (1977) aver that “Skill in reading depends on the efficient interaction between linguistic knowledge and knowledge of the world” (pp. 136-137). As such personal background knowledge may play a very crucial role in language learning when readers make and understand in an efficient way the reading.
1.1. Conceptualization and definitions of Background Knowledge
Marzano (2004) defines the process of acquiring background knowledge as:
experiences. Unfortunately, experiences for students with low fluid intelligence are not as successful in building background knowledge. While socio-economic status affects innate fluid intelligence, “learned intelligences the stronger correlate of success in school” (p. 73)
Lee (1986) states that “English language speakers were presented with three experimental treatments in order to examine three components of background knowledge. The components studied were: 1) context or no context 2) the transparency and 3) the familiarity” (p. 45).
Lopez (2009) gives a definition for the purpose of this research “Background knowledge or previous knowledge is defined as personal constructions of people in interaction with the daily world, with the objects and different social and educational experiences” (p. 34) (Own translation).
The concept began to be used in the second middle of the twentieth century by the cognitive psychology, interested in the way of human brain processes and stores the information for making learning. This point of view came from the existence of previous knowledge.
Ausubel (1968) develops the theory of meaningful learning, understanding learning as:
A space when the learner makes a connection between the new information with the information that he/she had, producing a process of rebuilding or readjust of both. On the other hand, the existence of previous knowledge let to develop the notion of world’s knowledge conceived like the stored information by the person in his /her memory; departing from experiences (p. 69).
Davis & Winek (1989); Squire (1983); Weisberg (1988), state that to master reading skill, students must become adept at activating prior knowledge, integrating it with new information, and constructing new understandings. Students who lack sufficient background knowledge or are unable to activate it may struggle to access, participate, and progress throughout the general curriculum.
McKeown (1992) states that “by building students’ background knowledge teachers might also help to counteract the detrimental effects that incoherent or poorly organized texts have about comprehension” (p. 76).
Dochy, Segers & Buehl (1999) state that “prior knowledge has a large influence on student performance explaining up to 81% of the variance in post-test scores” (p. 32).
Ehren & Gildrow (1996) from University of Kansas from the Center for Research on Learning, state that:
One type of knowledge is meta-cognitive knowledge. It is the knowledge base you must have to operate strategically. It includes knowledge of self as a learner, knowledge of task demands, specific strategies, and general knowledge about strategies. Another type of knowledge is meta-linguistic knowledge. It involves knowledge about the structure and use of language. For example, knowing that a word is made up of specific sounds or phonemes is meta-linguistic knowledge. Another category of knowledge is world knowledge. It includes those labels, concepts, ideas, and facts about the world in general, organized in a meaningful way to form schemata (p. 43).
Farrell (1992, p. 58) explains and states that:
Yule (1996) defines that:
Background knowledge is our ability to arrive automatically at interpretations of the unwritten and the unsaid must be based on pre-existing knowledge structures. These structures function like familiar patterns from previous experience that we use to interpret new experiences. The most general term for a pattern of this type is a schema. That is a pre-existing knowledge structure in memory. (p. 85).
Carrell (1983) states that:
To understand the role of background knowledge in reading comprehension, it is often to draw a distinction between formal schemata (background knowledge of the formal, rhetorical organizational structures of different types of texts) and content schemata (background knowledge of the content area of a text). (p. 71).
Ausubel (1963) subsumes “new information into existing structures and memory systems, and the resulting associate links create stronger retention” (p. 34).
Pearson (1992) concluded after many researches about previous knowledge made in adults, children, competent readers and initial readers “The new information is learned and it is remembered well when it is integrated with the previous relevant knowledge acquired or with the existent schemes” (Own translation).
Richards (1997) defines background knowledge, as “the process of making meaningful associations between existing knowledge, experience and new material will lead toward better long-term retention than rote learning of material in isolated pieces” (p. 45).
Diaz & Hernandez (1999) define previous knowledge like “the stored information in the student’s cognitive scheme. Without previous knowledge, it will be impossible to find any kind of meaning to texts; to have elements for the appropriate interpretation or to build any kind of representation” (p. 121) (Own translation).
Catts & Kamhi (1999) describe content schema as “a super ordinate organization of a mass of possible content facts” (p. 89).
Another important literature to consider about background Knowledge, in our Educational System is through the Ministry of Education in its whole proposal of education plan “National Curriculum Design” (An important document based on international theories, and approaches like Humanism and communicative Approaches, and which takes into account the proposal of Walter Peñaloza); the other important national document is the “Orientation for teacher work” (Known as OTP, made by experts of the Ministry of Education in Peru).
“The role of the students’ background knowledge is to relate the meaningful learning that means; the new knowledge and the previous knowledge that they have and apply this in a context or real life” (DCN, 2010, p.18) (Own translation).
“The role of the students” background is transferring some elements of their linguistic experiences and cultural baggage to a new context” (OTP, 2010, p. 17) (Own translation).
“The role of the students’ background knowledge is to transfer what they learned to a new situation and to connect what they have already known” (OTP, 2010, p. 53) (Own translation).
1.2. Kinds of Background Knowledge
knowledge and prior knowledge are generally used interchangeably. For example, Stevens (1980) defines background knowledge quite simply as “[…] what one already knows about a subject” (p. 110).
On the other hand, Biemans & Simons (1996) definition of background knowledge is slightly more complex, “[…] (background knowledge is) all knowledge learners have when entering a learning environment that is potentially relevant for acquiring new knowledge” (p.6).
Dochy & Alexander (1995) provide a more elaborate definition, describing prior knowledge as the whole of a person’s knowledge, including explicit and tacit knowledge, meta-cognitive and conceptual knowledge.
In the same line of thought, this definition is quite similar to Schaller’s (1982) definition. Thus, while scholars definitions of these two terms are often worded differently, they typically describe the same basic concept.
Prior knowledge and background knowledge are themselves parenting terms for many more specific knowledge dimensions such as conceptual knowledge and meta-cognitive knowledge. Subject matter knowledge, strategy knowledge, personal knowledge, and self-knowledge are all specialized forms of prior knowledge/background knowledge. The research studies selected and reviewed for this article targeted the parent concepts prior knowledge/background knowledge for study, and in discussing these studies and throughout the remainder of this article, these two terms are used interchangeably.
For the purpose of this research, background knowledge should be known as a joint of conceptual or world knowledge, linguistic knowledge and meta-cognitive knowledge.
1.2.1. World and Conceptual knowledge
skill or expertise) or explicit (as with the theoretical understanding of a subject); it can be more or less formal or systematic.
1.2.1.1. World knowledge (acquired)
Ehren & Gildrow (1996) states that:
This includes those labels, concepts, ideas, and facts about the world in general, organized in a meaningful way to form schemata. It includes the general information shared by people in a given culture, such as wedding traditions, as well as information in specific content domains like biology, literature, and geography. The world knowledge schemata in background knowledge provide a frame of reference for interpreting the experiences we may have or read about. (p. 78)
“Via our mother tongue, so too are we unable to switch off our knowledge of the world” (Hammerly, 1989, p. 51).
Willingham (2006) states that:
Knowledge is not only cumulative, it grows exponentially. Those with a rich base of factual knowledge find it easier to learn more — the rich get richer. In addition, factual knowledge enhances cognitive processes like problem solving and reasoning. The richer the knowledge base, the more smoothly and effectively these cognitive processes — the very ones that teachers target — operate. So, the more knowledge students accumulate the smarter they become. We will begin by exploring how knowledge brings more knowledge and then turn to how knowledge improves the quality and speed of thinking. (p. 69).
breaks in which knowledge is assumed and, therefore, comprehension depends on making correct inferences.
To provide some concrete examples and simplify the discussion, let us focus on reading — but keep in mind that the same points apply to listening. Suppose you read this brief text: "John's face fell as he looked down at his protruding belly. The invitation specified 'black tie' and he hadn't worn his tux since his own wedding, 20 years earlier." You will likely infer that John is concerned that his tuxedo will not fit, although the text says nothing directly about this potential problem. The writer could add the specifics ("John had gained weight since he last wore his tuxedo, and worried that it would not fit"), but they are not necessary and the added words would make the text dull. Your mind is well able to fill in the gaps because you know that people are often heavier 20 years after their wedding, and that gaining weight usually means that old clothing won't fit. This background knowledge about the world is readily available and so the writer need not specify it.
Researchers found that when reading unfamiliar texts, subjects more often reread parts of sentences and they more often looked back to previous sentences. That means the person with rich general knowledge rarely has to interrupt reading in order to consciously search for connections. (Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org › ... › Brain and Learning.)
“It is no surprise, then, that the ability to read a text and make sense of it is highly correlated with background knowledge. If you know more, you're a better reader” (Kosmoski, Gay, and Vockell, 1990, p. 67).
Hambrick (2003) in a study about world knowledge states that:
newspapers) and also took tests that measured their knowledge of specific men's basketball events from the prior two and one-half months. The results showed (not surprisingly) that subjects who reported an interest in the game also reported that they had greater exposure to basketball information. The more interesting finding was that, for a given level of exposure, greater prior basketball knowledge was associated with more new basketball knowledge.
Haraway, (1988) says that:
The knowledge prior to any experience means that there are certain "assumptions" that one takes for granted. For example, if you are being told about a chair it is clear to you that the chair is in space, that it is 3D. This knowledge is not knowledge that one can "forget", even someone suffering from amnesia experiences the world in 3D.Situational knowledge is often embedded in language, culture, or traditions. This integration of situational knowledge is an allusion to the community, and its attempts at collecting subjective perspectives into an embodiment "of views from somewhere (p. 90).
James (2007) suggests that:
Children begin to develop their background knowledge long before they enter school. Their interactions with parents and other caregivers help to establish what they think about the world and the things in it, including reading, school and studying. Children who are read to about a lot of different subjects, and who are engaged in conversation on a regular basis, about a lot of different topics, tend to have higher background knowledge (p. 58).
1.2.1.2. Conceptual Knowledge (learned)
There is widespread agreement that prior knowledge influences learning, and that learners construct concepts from prior knowledge (Resnick, 1983; Glaserfeld, 1984).
universal, and age independent. These are assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration. Assimilation increases knowledge while preserving of structure, by integrating information into existing schemata. Accommodation increases knowledge by modifying structure to account for new experience.
Roschelle (1995), states that:
Success begins with cultivation of the ability to look, listen, and understand the learner's viewpoint, and to discover the seeds from which knowledge and identity can grow. Other institutions, especially schools, do a downright awful job of support conceptual change, as is well-documented throughout the literature. (p. 72)
Vygostsky (1986) specifically examined the role of prior knowledge which is science learning. He argued that children have spontaneous concepts and scientific concepts, and that these are not in conflict, but rather are part of a unitary process. In this process, Vygotsky sees spontaneous concepts growing upwards in generality, preparing the ground for more systematic reasoning. Simultaneously scientific concepts, which are introduced by instruction, grow downwards to organize and utilize the spontaneous concepts. Upon achieving a through and systematic intertwining, the learner gains both the power of the abstract (maximum substitutability) and of the concrete (maximum applicability).
The restructuring process that intertwines spontaneous and specialized concepts occurs in social interaction, and is mediated by sign systems, such as language and drawing.
Vigostsky turns our attention to the "Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)” when he states that:
Vygotsky's account, the primary resources for restructuring prior knowledge come from culture. Moreover, the restructuring process itself occurs externally, in social discourse. Children share, negotiate and try out meanings in social experience, and adults can shape those meanings by bringing them into the framework of cultural practice (Newman, Griffith & Cole, 1989).
So, as teachers we may ask, “How do I build my student’s background knowledge?” Well, that can be done in several ways. One way is to build the knowledge before student needs it, by exposing him to different things and experiences, talking to him about new ideas and reading lots of different material either with him or to him on a regular basis.
In other words, world knowledge comprises of all the information, attitudes, feeling, values, culture, history, geography, behaviors, language, which students bring with them to class, grouping them in schemes, because they do not live in an isolated world. Teachers must assume that they already bring knowledge to class and the most important thing is to recognize these in each communicative situation in relation to the real context and not only verbalize grammatical rules. Activating background knowledge can facilitate, in a huge manner, reading comprehension. Understanding a text not only refers to texts, but also includes understanding pictures, realia, symbols, news, icons, or any kind of situations, further more than a written text.
1.2.2. Linguistic Knowledge
This involves knowledge about the structure and use of language. For example, knowing how a word is made up for specific sounds and phonemes.
Rojas (2002), states that “thinking emerges from perception and abstraction of the reality through language. This capacity is conceived like an integral part of a human development: The cognitive faculty” (p. 73).
Language is divided into three conceptions: Cognitive conception, linguistic conception and social conception.
a. Cognitive conception
According to Sapir (1962), language is conceived in two senses:
1. Wide sense.- Language is the capacity of the human being for the symbolic representation and the use of signs and codes (including tongues) for its development and communication.
2. Narrow sense.- Language is the method, exclusively human, not instinctive, to communicate ideas, emotions and desires through a symbolic system produced in an intentional manner. This symbolic system is first hearing, and the phonation organs produce them.
b. Linguistic Conception
Language is conceived as a symbolic system. In other words, conformed by units’ resulting from the integration of a signifier or phonetic form, and a signified (idea about reality); both keep an arbitrary relationship with the representation or indication.
Language has been object of reflection by various thinkers throughout history. In the eve of 20th century, with Saussure, born a new tradition to study language from its internal elements to its manifestation fields: language and speech.
c. Social conception
Language is an instrument which human beings use to build their personality in function of their behavior in society. In this sense, language must be thought from a social perspective to establish an interpersonal and social cohesion.
Anderson (2000), explains the importance of the role of language to build the identity or cultural aspect of a nation:
The identity of a nation has like a fundamental attribute the language, specially the first language or mother tongue; which is learned at home during the first years of life. To change the customs, the dressing, the nourishment, or ideas are possible; but the use of mother tongue keeps and emerges like a “linguistic substrate” when the people learn a new language”. The linguistic identity propitiates the solidarity in the speakers and the possibility to share and imagine a culture. (p. 70)
The Identity of a nation is defined between other aspects, by its mother tongue. It defines the men; it helps them to be part of a community and building its identity. It is defined by the System of United Nations ensuring its preservation in the cultural pluralism; however many nations are in disadvantages situation by rejecting to its mother in the formal use of the political, social, juridical life.
1.2.3. Knowledge of the mother tongue
1.2.3.1. Knowledge of word structure (meaning and vocabulary)
Crystal (2007) explains the structure of language, in a variety of ways, such as:
classes of words (parts of speech),
meanings of words (semantics), with or without considering changes of meaning,
how words are organized in relation to each other (syntax),
how words are formed (morphology),
the sounds of words (phonology) and
how written forms represent these (lexicography).
There is no universally accepted model for doing this, but some models use the notion of a hierarchy, and this may prove fruitful for you.
The most basic units of meaning are simple words (e.g.: dog, yes and swim) or the elements of complex words (e.g.: un- -happi- and -ness in unhappiness). These basic elements are called morphemes, and the study of how they are combined in words is morphology.
The study of how words are organized into phrases, clauses and sentences is usually referred to as syntax.
A longer stretch of language is known as discourse, the study of its structure as discourse analysis (Retrieved from www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/engstruct.htm).
Lado (1957, as cited in Banathy, Trager & Waddle, 1966) explains the role of first language in second language acquisition in this way:
performer’s first language, and a great deal of materials preparation was done with this assumption in mind. (p. 78).
Subsequent empirical studies of errors made by second language students led to discovery, however, that many errors are not traceable to the structure of the first language, but are common to second language performers of different linguistic backgrounds (Richards, 1971; Buteau, 1970). It is thought that first language is one of the several sources of errors, and other sources need to be considered.
These are the research findings:
First language influence appears to be strongest in complex word order and in word-for-word translations of phrases.
The evidence for this generalization comes from several sources. (Duskova, 1969), for example, studied written errors in the composition of Czech” post-graduate students” and concluded that “interference from the mother tongue [...] was plainly obvious in errors of word order and sentence construction”.
LoCoco (1975), in a study of American college students learning Spanish and German in the US, a foreign language situation, reported that the high incidence of inter-lingual (L1 interference) errors in German was due to word order errors…”
First language based errors in Spanish were less numerous and “pertained primarily to adjective position”.
First language influence is weaker in bound morphology.
First language influence seems to be strongest in “acquisition – poor” environments, especially in the domain of word order (Selinker, Swain, & Dumas, 1985).
input, and several recent studies performance may be profitable for children and adults studying second languages in formal settings.
An evolution and global tendency in reading more advances, based on the semantic meaning for different models for the reading in general like Van Dijk & Kintsch (1983) model in this way:
Their ‘model is general and flexible enough’ to be ‘later specified’, or ‘embedded’ ‘into a broader model of strategic verbal interaction in the social context’. This prospect befits the precept that a ‘social model should’ ‘have a cognitive basis’ and expound ‘strategies’ for ‘understanding, planning’, and ‘participating in interaction’. We might thus bridge the ‘gap between linguistic theory’ and ‘theory of social interaction’. ‘Translating abstract textual structures into more concrete on-line cognitive processes’ can suggest how to do the same with ‘abstract structures of interaction and social situations’. (Retrieved from http://www.beaugrande.com/LINGTHERvan%20Dijk%20and%20Kintsch.htm).
1.2.3.2. Knowledge of sentence structure
A student can guide by the knowledge of his/her thematic and of his /her maternal code, but it is also essential a good linguistic knowledge of the foreign language; in order to produce a good reading comprehension.
Eskey & Grabe (1988) analyze the role of the grammar (control some recurrent structures on any kind of texts) and vocabulary (especially the lexical aspect, distinguishing to the efficient readers from the inefficient readers) in the reading comprehension of foreign languages. The author does not share the ideas about interference to all the linguistic levels during the processing of the foreign language.
Using the mother tongue, we have (1) learnt to think, (2) learnt to communicate and (3) acquired an intuitive understanding of grammar. The mother tongue opens the door, not only to its own grammar, but to all grammars, inasmuch as it awakens the potential for universal grammar that lies within all of us. This foreknowledge is the result of interactions between a first language and our fundamental linguistic endowment, and is the foundation on which we build our Selves. It is the greatest asset people bring to the task of foreign language learning. For this reason, the mother tongue is the master key to foreign languages, the tool which gives us the fastest, surest, most precise, and most complete means of accessing a foreign language.
Butzkamm (2003) shows the alternative of mother tongue as a base of reference into these statements:
- The FL learner must build upon existing skills and knowledge acquired in and through the MT.
- MT aids make it easier to conduct whole lessons in the foreign language. Pupils gain confidence and, paradoxically, become less dependent on their MT.
- MT aids can promote more authentic, message-oriented communication than might be found in lessons where they are avoided.
- Bilingual techniques allow teachers to bypass the grammatical progression of textbooks.
- We need to associate the new with the old. To exclude MT links would deprive us of the richest source for building cross-linguistic networks.
- It is not possible to avoid interference, but it can be greatly reduced.
- Paradoxically, the counter-productive, haphazard use of the mother tongue may be an unwanted side-effect of the doctrine of monolingualism.
- All newly acquired FL items have to sink roots in our minds, which are eventually deep enough for the items to function independently of the MT.
Language skills develop interpedently. Authentic Language use often requires the simultaneous use of several language domains. (Walqui-Van lier, 1993; Canale, 1983).
“Language skills emphasized the oral communication through interpersonal and group interaction in the classroom” (DCN, p. 359) (Own translation).
Taking into account the mother tongue of our students is important but is important too, to teaching grammar with language in context according to the needs and interest of our students. Giving them examples not rules in an inductive way; engage the learners, teaching through pictures and physical objects, realia, teaching through texts, teaching through role play.
1.2.3.3. Language functions
The functions of language vary, depending on the purposes or intentions of what we want to communicate. Bernandez (1999) refers to the main function of language “linguistic”, through which we can communicate something to somebody. Jacobson (1984) refers to various functions of language which conform the communicative process. These are: Emotive, referential, appellative, of contact, meta-linguistic and poetic or esthetic functions.
Referential Function
This function corresponds to message’s factor and describes a situation, object or mental state. The descriptive statements of the referential function can consist of both definite descriptions and deictic words,
e.g. "The autumn leaves have all fallen now." "What we've got here is a failure to communicate." (Paul Newman as Luke in Cool Hand Luke, 1967).
"Don't you sometimes wonder if it's worth all this? I mean what you're fighting for."
(Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine in Casablanca, 1942)
"God has not forsaken this place, Mr. Allnut, as my brother's presence here bears witness."
(Katharine Hepburn as Rose Sayer in The African Queen, 1951)
It is the function of language related to the referent or context, to communicative act. This function is present in all the communicative situations. It is given when all the communicative acts can be confirmed because in this we recognized the relationship established between the message and the object (referent). The main linguistic resources are the deictics. They use the denotative language (the primary meaning of the words).
Here prevail nouns and verbs; which is the most common among the informative, scientific and journalistic texts. This function is called too, representative, informative, denotative or cognitive. It brings objective knowledge, concepts and information. The purpose of this function is alluded to extra-linguistic resources (all related to the context.) e.g. “This book is here”, “The man is being rational”, “Today is Friday”.
e.g. “Track crash in the route” (Own translation)
Expressive ("emotive" or "affective") Function
do add information about the Addresser's (speaker's) internal state, e.g. "Wow, what a view!".
It is found in first person and its effect is from identification. This function permits the sender the exteriorization of attitudes, feelings, desires, level of interest or stages of emotions, to set a communicative situation.
This function is given when the message is center in the sender:
e.g. Loneliness: “I'm so lonely , love, that only goes up to my room , rung by rung, the old staircase trachea”(Juan Manuel Roca).
This function is not far from the representative function; it is the function of the language to let a projection of enunciation’s subject based on representativeness. If we analyze simple expressions like “that woman fascinates me!” or what a beautiful day!” Prevail the expressive function but with a base in a symbolic representation, given by an allusion to referents. Finally, this function is given by affective and connotative meanings established on base to denotative meanings: when we talk, we express our stage of emotions, attitudes or our pertinence to a social group giving to others about us. (Own translation).
Conative Function
This function engages the addresser (receiver) directly and is best illustrated by vocatives and imperatives, e.g. "Tom! Come inside and eat!"
It is named conative too; because it came from the Latin Word “conatus” (beginning), here the sender waits the beginning of the reaction of the receiver. It focuses in the receiver. It is the function of command and question. The sender tries to influence on the behavior of the receiver. It uses a big number of linguistic resources like: vocatives, imperatives, interrogative sentences, affective elements, adjective valuative, connotative terms, and all kind of rhetoric resources. It is given in the colloquial language: political and ideological advertisements.
e.g. « look!» or «Open the door, please.» (These messages invite to receive or to make something). (Own translation).
Figure 2. Elements of communication. Fuente: Middleton, R. (1990/2002), p. 241. Philadelphia: Open University Press.
Poetic or esthetic Function
It focuses on "the message for its own sake” (the code itself, and how it is used) and is the operative function in poetry as well as slogans.
This function is oriented to message. It appears always that the expression attracts the attention on its form, in any kind of manifestation when the language is used with esthetic purpose. Its resources are varied like: stylistic figures and the game of words, especially in literary texts but not exclusively. If the appropriate word is used correctly to write the thinking and feeling of people; it produces emotion and beauty like in some gratifies, jokes, songs, poems, novels, films’ arguments, etc.
e.g. “The soul can talk with the eyes and kiss with a look”. e. g. “I am very happy”.
e.g. Tonight I Can Write the saddest lines: "Night is starry and shiver , blue stars , far away."(Pablo Neruda).
Contact or phatic Function
It is language for the sake (purpose or benefit) of interaction and is therefore associated with the contact factor. The phatic function can be observed in greetings and casual discussions of the weather, particularly with strangers. It
Context
Message
Channel
Code
also provides the keys to open, maintain, verify or close the communication channel: "Hello?", "Ok?", "Hummm", "Bye"...
This function is oriented to the channel of communication between the sender and the receiver. Its purpose is starting, continuing, interrupting and ending a conversation or simply to prove if there is any kind of contact. Its informative content is nule or limited and it is used like a way of greeting. It facilitates the social contact to transmit and optimize future messages of major content.
e.g.” ok”, “I agree”, “Of course”, “Naturally”, “I understand”,” sure”, “perfect”.
It guaranties that the channel works correctly and that the message arrives without interruption. (Own translation).
Meta-lingual ("meta-linguistic" or "reflexive") Function
It is the use of language (what Jacobson calls "Code") to discuss or describe itself. (This is an example of meta-linguistic Function).
It is focused on the proper code of the language and clarifies the message. It is expressed in declarations and definitions.
e. g. “The word peter has five letters” (Own translation).
Another important literature to consider about functions of language is from the book “Language as social semiotics” (Halliday, 1979). He stated a new perspective of language studies which integrate the socio-cultural component as a key in the comprehension contrary to structuralism and generativism of Saussure and Chomsky (who did not let the studies of combination of language / speech). Halliday situated the context as an intrinsic part of language only in the use and not separate from the same (Inter and intra organism).
1.2.3.4. Sociolinguistic interaction
In the transferring aspect, Koda (1994) distinguishes two perspectives: The universality of reading process and the particularity of reading process in each language. There are not many studies dedicated to the first perspective. He mentions that the skills of cognitive kind are universal and the other one of linguistic character is specific for each language.
Inside the researches of universality of the reading process, ones highlight some factors related to the reader: linguistic knowledge of the foreign language, reading competence in the mother tongue, age, motivation, etc. or other factors related to the context: teaching method of the foreign language, pedagogic goals, contexts of learning, etc.
Eisterhold (1990), about transference of skills of reading and writing in Japanese and Chinese people refers to English as a foreign language presenting the following aspects:
1. Reading abilities transfer easier than the writing abilities. 2. Transference varies according to the origin of the speakers.
3. Linguistic level, educational level and cultural experience are factors which affect the developing of reading–writing process in the foreign language, or on illiterate adult in their mother tongue.
Carson (1990) describes three models of transference of skills and finds three positions:
1. Common linguistic skill with high level which make possible the transference.
2. Basic common linguistic skill with high domain and a cognitive restructuration, which let the transference of skills.
3. Separated linguistic system with cognitive separation of skills and similar structures joined.
The DCN (2008) considers that:
The use of native language or mother tongue of the students plays an important role, when they learn a new language; especially when they have some problems of communication or understanding of some expressions ignored or that need more explanation. (p. 56).
The first reason is that language is developed in a real situation and context, not only inside the classroom, school or institute; but also in an interactive and a fluent communication outside.
In our Peruvian context, it is important to clarify that English is learned as a foreign language and students do not have the opportunity to practice it outside of the classroom.
The second reason is that many students with low level of training in English feel frustrated when they interact. They do not feel confident to use the language when they communicate or speak everything in English.
The third reason is that students tend to alienate to a new language (English) and reject their mother tongue and their culture; forgetting that their country has a pluricultural context.
These main reasons do not mean that we need to use full English all of the time in the class. We can also consider the use of the mother tongue for a better understanding of some concepts, expressions or ideas. Teachers need to find strategies to solve some problems of communication that the students bring to class.
Here are some points about native language or mother tongue in our context “to preserve the mother tongue and promote its development and practice” (DCN, p. 21) (Own translation).
“Students reinforce the use of the mother tongue in their communication” (DCN, p. 22) (Own translation).
Analyzing these two documents, we can notice that they have contradictory positions; On the one hand, we need to practice and preserve the mother tongue. On the other hand, it is not usual to use full English in class. The question here is what happens with our pluricultural and multilingual Peruvian context. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to diversify the DCN according to the context and needs of our students.
It is important to know some ELT references like the following in order to clarify the concepts of mother tongue and meaningful learning.
Swan (1985), states that:
A learner that enters to the classroom is not a “tabula rasa”. Besides that, he deals in detail with some aspects of the communicative abilities and knowledge of the world, which all learners possess, through that he makes only a relatively brief mention of the actual corpus of language (their mother tongue) which all learners bring into the classroom. (p. 94).
Larsen-Freeman (2001), states that:
The students’ native language has no particular role in the communicative Approach. The target language should be used not only during communicative activities, but also, for example, in explaining the activities to the students or in assigning homework. The students learn from these classroom management exchanges, too, and realize that the target language is a vehicle for communication, not just an object to be studied. (p. 57)
Richards & Rodgers (1997), mention that “judicious use of native language is accepted where feasible” (p. 54)
Richards (1997), states that “the process of making meaningful associations between existing knowledge, experience and new material will lead toward better long-term retention than rote learning of material in isolated pieces”.
The result of new and previous knowledge in real life is meaningful and overall useful.
In the case of our students they know more about the world around them, many of them can have difficulties for expressing themselves in a formal way, maybe more than us about their contexts. That is why it is necessary that teachers make real descriptions or introduce the context or schemas that they know in an easy way, trying to respect students’ contexts, opinions and if they are wrong, correct them without making any harm to their feeling or humiliating them.
1.2.4. Knowledge of the foreign language
Bernard (1991), states that “Researches about knowledge of linguistic system of the foreign language are centered in concrete levels. Thus, there is a few researches about the impact of the syntactic knowledge in the skill of comprehension texts” (p. 75).
In the case of Spanish and English, two relatively close languages; there is a contrastive approach by instruction: To promote the acquisition of first language in the early stages and to make an especial emphasis on the second language.
1.2.4.1. Knowledge of foreign language rules
Oré (2013) states some important aspects in relation to knowledge of foreign language:
To difference of other approaches and contributions to teaching English, remarks the communicative competence over the linguistic competence. It states that learning a language is a task eminently cognitive and suggests a necessary attention to affective factors like attitude and motivation. (p. 94) (Own translation).
Taking into account this notion, we notice that our students should have developed the four basic abilities at least in their first language but contrary we find many deficiencies in literacy of the mother tongue. In the case of English that students in many cases bring to class, they come with more basic notions result of interaction with the technology around them. However, what happens with other minority of students that come to English class with minimal notions of this new language. In these cases is a need to put in practice the humanistic and communicative approach in order to having a good result in the two pedagogical hours a week that give us the MED. It clears for us that learning a language is a cognitive, socio-affective and communicative process.
Referring to foreign language knowledge, Brown (2007), states that:
Despite our history of treating the four skills in separate segments of a curriculum, there is a recent trend toward skill integration. That is, rather than designing a curriculum to teach the many aspects of one skill. Curriculum designers are talking more of a whole language approach; here reading is treated as interrelated skills. A lesson in a so-called reading class, under this new paradigm, might include:
- A pre-reading discussion of the topic to activate schemata;
- listening to a teacher monologue or a series of informative statements about the topic of a passage to be read;
- a focus on a certain reading strategy, say, scanning;
According to the OTP (2010), students should develop the following skills:
Listening and Speaking
Dialogue with peers about himself and his immediate environment with proper intonation and showing respect for the others ideas.
Understand and follow simple and everyday classroom instructions.
Reading
Predict text content taking into account the graphics elements.
Identify the global or specific information from simple texts and instructional, postcards, business cards, advertisements, among others, using the methods of understanding as skimming and scanning.
infer the meaning of words from context.
Evaluate voice control, body and look to understand the message.
Writing
Plan the production of the text, identifying the communicative situation.
write simple texts about personal issues and situations, such as postcards and short messages.
Evaluate the content of the text. (p. 35) (Own translation).
To command grammar and vocabulary in almost all the languages are two important points. The structure and the meaning of that structure is a task that we are going to develop as follows:
Grammar
Brown (2007), states that about grammar:
material, he will be better able to learn front it. Children have some difficulty detecting even gross violations of logical structure. (p. 70).
Halliday (1994) explains the functional systemic grammar in three senses:
First; a functional grammar is essentially a ‘natural’ grammar, in the sense that everything in it can be explained, ultimately, by reference to how language is used.” Second, the manifestations in the linguistic system of the two very general purposes, which underlie all uses of language: (i) to understand the environment (ideational), and (ii) to act on the others in it (interpersonal). Combined with these is a third meta-functional component, the ‘textual’, which breathes relevance into the other two. Ideational meaning is the representation of experience: our experience of the world that lies about us, and inside us, the world of our imagination. It is meaning in the sense of ‘content’. The ideational function of the clause is that of representing what in the broadest sense we can call ‘processes’: actions, events, processes of consciousness, and relations. Interpersonal meaning is meaning as a form of action: the speaker or writer doing something to the listener or reader by means of language. The interpersonal function of the clause is that of exchanging roles in rhetorical interaction: statements, questions, offers and commands, together with accompanying modalities. Textual meaning is relevance to the context: both the preceding (and following) text, and the context of situation. The textual function of the clause is that of constructing a message. (p. 54).
In the grammar learning process, there are two major processes that might happen, namely explicit and implicit grammatical knowledge.
Purpura (2004) states this point in relations with explicit grammar:
DeKeyser (1995) indicates this point:
That this ‘explicit’ grammatical instruction involves the explanation of rule or request to focus on grammatical feature. The instructions can happen both deductively, where the learners are taught rules and asked to apply them in practice; or inductively, where the learners are presented examples first then to generate rules and make generalizations.
On the other hand, implicit grammatical knowledge refers to “the knowledge of a language that is typically manifest in some form of naturally occurring language behavior such as conversation (Ellis, 2001).
In line with this, Brown (2007) states that “implicit knowledge is involves conscious awareness and intention” (p. 67). This process is commonly unconscious and accesses quickly.
DeKeyser (1995) posits that implicit grammatical instruction does not involve any explanation of rule presentation or a request to focus on form in the input. It occurs without intention to learn and without awareness of what has been learned.
Thornbury (2002) states that about inductive grammar:
Gombert (1992), states that:
Grammar generally refers to the structural properties of sounds, words, sentences, and structural coordination across sentences. Sociolinguistics analyzes the ways in which language varies as a function of the setting (e.g., lab work, pair-share, and choral reading) as well as the social position of the person, (e.g., teacher v. student). (p. 79).
Vocabulary
Campbell (2008) states that:
Vocabulary plays a fundamental role in student´s knowledge base. In fact, some researchers suggest that teaching vocabulary is synonymous with building background knowledge. Understanding key words is critical before learning can progress academically. For example the average number for new words expected to be learned by a middle schooler is around 600 annually for the high schooler it is 800.It is easy to see how students can fall if they do not learn vocabulary. Fortunately all teacher at all grade levels, in all subjects areas can teach essential words for their disciplines. Learners of all age need to be taught key organizers ideas or generalizations of the topic or discipline. Researches maintained that a significant purpose of education is correct students’ erroneous notions (p. 83).
Brown (2007), states some principles for teaching vocabulary:
Allocate specific class time to vocabulary learning. Help students to learn vocabulary in context. Play down the role of bilingual dictionaries.
Integrating language skills
The importance of integrating skills gives students greater motivation that converts to better retention of principles of effective speaking, listening, reading and writing. Rather than being forced to plot along through a course than limits itself to one mode of performance, students are given a chance to diversify their efforts in more meaningful tasks.
Bransford, Stein, Shelton & Owings (1980) state that “less able students have little awareness of the text and ask characteristics that should be taken into account when studying, even though their memory is affected by the structure of the text” (p. 142).
1.2.4.2. Knowledge of foreign language use (context)
Nayar (1997) states that:
Foreign language contexts are those in which students do not have ready-made contexts for communication beyond their classroom. They may be obtainable through language clubs, special media, opportunities, books or an occasional tourist, but efforts must be made to create such opportunities. The seemingly clear dichotomy between ESL and EFL has been considerably muddied in recent years with the increasing use of English worldwide for a variety of purposes. (p. 84).
Brown (2007) states that:
